In 2026-2027, the Pembroke Center will award residential Postdoctoral Research Associate positions to scholars from any field whose research relates to the theme of the Pembroke Seminar, “The Meanings of Merit: Labor, Categories of Difference, and the Creation of Knowledge.” The seminar will be led by Paja Faudree, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Associate Professor of Linguistics at Brown University.

Debates about the meanings of “merit” have intensified dramatically in recent years. The aggressive push at the national level to dismantle DEI initiatives and return to more “merit-based” decision making has disrupted policies across private and public sectors alike. Presented as an objective criterion for everything from hiring to admissions practices, event programming to publication review to the allocation of funding, merit is claimed as a neutral principle and used to challenge efforts to highlight and redress systemic and historical inequities surrounding the production of knowledge and the recognition of expertise. In light of these developments, it is more important than ever to produce and attend to work that insists on examining the ideological assumptions and historical contexts surrounding assertions of merit and fantasies of “excellence.” 

This yearlong seminar will consider how ideas about intellectual value and expertise – in other words, myths of merit – are entangled with divisions of labor and categories of difference. While gender will take a central place in our discussions, we will also explore how the creation of knowledge and the authority to claim it are linked to race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. We will examine how critiques of merit have shaped the work produced in a variety of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields. Seminar discussions will draw on work from across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. We will engage with an interdisciplinary array of critical scholarship, as well as works of literature, film, visual art, and performance. We welcome applications from not only scholars producing work aimed at academic audiences but also those producing hybrid or public-facing writing or work in visual media, film, sound, music, performance, and other expressive genres. The interdisciplinary composition of the seminar will foster dynamic discussions, encouraging participants to approach questions of merit and knowledge creation through multiple critical lenses and methodologies.

Fellows are required to participate in a weekly research seminar and teach one undergraduate course. 

Candidates are selected on the basis of their scholarly potential and the relevance of their work to the research theme. Recipients must have a PhD at the start of the fellowship and may not hold a tenured position. Fellowships are awarded to scholars who have received their degrees from institutions other than Brown University within the last five (5) years. The term of appointment is July 1, 2026-June 30, 2027. The annual salary for this postdoctoral position is between $62,232 and $67,824, commensurate with years of experience, plus $2,000 for research expenses and an additional one-time $1,000 stipend to assist in the transition to Providence. Postdoctoral Research Associates are eligible to participate in the Brown University health and dental benefit plan.  For full consideration, applications must be submitted by 11:59 pm (EST) on Monday, November 24, 2025.